MP's expenses: Our MPs still aren't getting the message

The Rotten Parliament, as future historians may know it, must be replaced by
one whose ethos is different from those of its predecessors.

And so this rotten Parliament limps into its dying months, still muttering excuses for behaviour that shames even those of its members – a minority of MPs, incredibly – who were not found guilty of over-claiming expenses. As we argued yesterday, following the publication of the report by the independent auditor Sir Thomas Legg, the MPs’ expenses scandal has done terrible damage to our democracy, which only a new Parliament can repair. But there is more to be said; much more.

A new Parliament is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the restoration of the public’s confidence in its representatives. The Rotten Parliament, as future historians may know it, must be replaced by one whose ethos is so different from those of its predecessors that the crisis of 2009-10 comes to be seen as the prelude to one of the great reforming moments in parliamentary history, comparable to the Bill of Rights of 1689 or the Reform Act of 1832. Unfortunately, even now, the political classes show few signs of having grasped the magnitude of the crisis – or the opportunity.

Yesterday, three Labour MPs – Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor – were told that they will face criminal charges over their expenses; so will the Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield. All four have denied the charges and will vigorously defend themselves. The significance of these criminal charges, irrespective of the guilt or innocence of those facing them, is that the scandal now officially transcends the internal workings of the Palace of Westminster. The police are involved, and the Crown Prosecution Service. This is an extraordinary development, though it is worth recalling that the police have been dragged into the political process on several occasions in recent years. In some cases, such as the ludicrous arrest of the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green, their involvement was a scandal in itself; in others, such as the cash for honours inquiry in which Lord Levy was arrested and Tony Blair questioned three times before the CPS dropped the case, police activity was perhaps inevitable. Either way, the impression was one of chaos and malaise at the heart of political life.

These fresh prosecutions on charges of false accounting bring home the reality of the MPs’ expenses scandal as never before; but there is also a danger that the focus on four individuals, together with the publication of the Legg conclusions, will persuade politicians that a line has been drawn under the affair. It has not. Voters know that a great deal of business is unfinished. For example, Legg did not investigate MPs who “flipped” their second homes or avoided capital gains tax. Many egregious flippers can claim that they are in the clear. They are fooling only themselves, but that in itself is alarming.

The new MPs elected this spring, and existing members who survive the wrath of the electorate, must abandon the delusions that still grip many of the old intake. They must willingly renounce privileges relating to their personal finances. Voters who have to pay £100 for missing their own tax deadlines are furious that politicians can claim accountants’ fees against tax; and they cannot understand how, after everything that has happened, MPs in the next Parliament will be able to claim expenses and allowances under a system that could turn out to be less transparent than the old one.

Disgust at the corruptibility of politicians will colour an election that should be about which party is fit to lead Britain out of its economic and social mess. As a result, we may see maverick independents elected, and new MPs may be unusually frightened of their constituents. That will not be good news for a government trying to pass unpopular cost-cutting measures; in the long run, however, quarrelsome but honest MPs are more likely to act in the national interest than the bored and greedy time-servers who will soon be shuffling through the lobbies for the last time.